Life After the Death of Haruhi Suzumiya
by Turbanator
Summary: How did life fare for the SOS Brigade after the events in The Death of Haruhi Suzumiya? What of the heroes, and the enemies? Alternate Endings and Deleted Scenes included...
1. Alternate Ending 1: Back to AbNormality

** In order to fully appreciate this story, you will need to read 'The Death of Haruhi Suzumiya' so that this story makes sense **

* * *

**Life After the Death of Haruhi Suzumiya**

**Alternate Ending One**

**Back to (Ab)Normality**

**SOS Brigade Clubroom**

The seriously disturbed faces of one of the members, the panicking of one other, the plain smile, and the blank stare of the final one made Haruhi beam further.

"You are joking, Haruhi, aren't you?" Kyon began.

"Why not, it'll attract more members to our cause!"

"But, it's obscene, even I can't agree to this!"

Haruhi's face grew annoyed, and the three special people flinched in their own ways. Mikuru squeaked a little, Koizumi opened his eyes for a second, and Nagato looked up and blinked once.

Kyon noticed these subtle signals, and he sighed, patting his forehead, "Fine, Haruhi, whatever you wish..."

"Good!" She put her hands on her hips, "I've already got an idea about what the costumes should be like, so we're going to go to the shop to grab them, and we're going to sew them up!"

"Wha-?" Kyon was really in disbelief, "But Haruhi, I don't know about the others, but I can't sew."

She pointed at him, "You'll do it, Kyon! I won't accept any other option!"

"But, cosplay?!"

"Yep! But it can't be just any ordinary one, it has to be different, special!"

Kyon loosened his collar further, knowing that whenever Haruhi thought that something should be 'special', it meant that it was going to be downright outrageous.

"Define 'special'..." He asked coldly.

Haruhi stepped back and frowned, placing her hands on her hips. She stared at Kyon for a few moments longer than necessary, before finally grinning.

"Cross-dressing cosplay." She pulled out a diagram from behind her, showing ideas of how to transform the SOS Brigade into the opposite gender, "We've got to have new names too, mine will be Haruki, a spunky, go-getter who's into finding espers, time travellers, sliders and aliens."

"But that's just the same thing as you!" Kyon exclaimed, raising his hands in the air.

"Kyonko will be a shy moe-like girl, but deep down is sarcastic and cynical of anything strange and odd."

Kyon's jaw dropped as she went on regardless of his earlier protests, and once he saw the colour designs on the next page, his face turned paler.

"I'm going to have a ponytail...?"

"And a cardigan don't forget!"

"Fine, whatever, we'll get round to it when we can Haruhi..." Kyon sighed, whilst shaking his head.

Nagato closed her book and the group prepared to leave, storing away the items they had taken out until the next meeting.

Haruhi pulled away her pictures before furrowing her brow.

"You lot can go ahead, I'll catch up to you tomorrow, I have something to do in private."

She watched as Kyon, Nagato, Asahina and Koizumi left the room, then from the window seeing them confer with one another. She smirked, then became much more depressed as she drew back into the clubroom.

"No... Still not accurate enough..."

The world outside the room fractured and froze at the same time, like a broken mirror that was paused in its movement.

"Too angry, too protesting, too cruel..." She glanced at the seat where he sat moments earlier, and went to it, the warmth of his back lingering in her touch.

The room lurched as an old wooden coffin rose between the materials and lay on top of the table, having been removed from the non-space between floors. It opened automatically, sliding to one side to reveal the body inside.

"I'm forgetting... I can't tell any more..." Haruhi looked at the face of the person inside, having long since gone past flinching at the decay, "I keep trying to recreate you, but I'm missing something every time, or exaggerating something else which overpowers your personality."

The rotting corpse of Kyon was enough to send Haruhi into a state of catatonia. Too grim to describe the current vision she was seeing, she had already blocked it out, her eyes glazing over whenever she looked at it. Naturally, her divine powers would not work on preserving his body, but being God, she was used to death, though the world she had created did not have any still. His clothes were also disintegrating from the ravages of time.

"How many times have I rebuilt this world? How many billions of Kyons have been born and rejected? I can't even count how many days, month or years it has been..."

She stroked his cheek, and held back her shudder at feeling the rough flesh and skull bone that grazed against her palm.

"Is it still possible to go back to the way we were? Can I restore the old world being the way I am now?"

She was crying by now, her tears falling on to Kyon's face, but as usual, it never stirred, no miraculous recovery from her holy water.

"I can't give up my godhood..." She gestured to the world outside, talking to the body as she always did, "How can I when I have a world, no, a universe at my fingertips!"

At that moment, giant spaceships came down and began destroying buildings only for them to be chased away by a giant monster rampaging through the city, which was then attacked by flying humans, even the momentary arrival of a blue box startling people enough to attack it.

"I can do anything I want, see!"

She turned back, joyously, to the coffin, but the silence was her reply, and the smell of his body had rose to the room. She lost her smile and a shadow fell upon her face.

"Fine, be that way... I'll show you I can bring you back. I don't need your soul to make it work, I can do without!"

She turned back to the window and roughly gestured behind her. The coffin sunk through the floor to its resting place of earlier, and the room was restored to normal. The stench has been replaced with a musky smell.

"But first..."

Two hands encircled her waist and the rough breathing of the person behind her trickled across her nape, sending shivers through her muscles, as a certain body part pressed up against her. Turning and leaning in to the person, she gasped happily at feeling up his well toned body, noticing the endowment he possessed her eyes widened, ready to take it all in.

"Ahhn, Kyon..." She purred cutely, pulling the red ribbon from her school uniform, "Please be gentle with me."

The Kyon doppelgänger just smirked, his shadowy face leering as he moved his naked body closer.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

...ahem...

Well, that should be enough to keep it 'T' rating, I'm not planning on writing a lemon scene showing the following, and though Haruhi went a tad OOC with her 'Ahhn', I felt that given her status, she wanted to be dominated for once (or as it implies, a hell of a lot more than that).

So yes, this was one of the alternate endings as you've guessed by now. One where Haruhi keeps trying to make a 'new' Kyon, just like the old one, but obviously it's not possible due to all the reasons I mentioned in the previous story.

Of course, it is also possible that this did happen, only for Haruhi to give up in the end and remake the old world... That's up to you to decide...

The coming chapters will be in anachronic order, just like the series, random life segments, as well as two more alternate endings dispersed in-between some of them.

- J


	2. Declassified Information

**Life After the Death of Haruhi Suzumiya**

**Declassified Information**

**Somewhere ****in ****Nishinomiya ****C****ity**

The sun was setting peacefully like it always does, people were milling about, their lives both troubled and blissful. There are always going to be ups and downs in one's existence.

The passing of an exam is a temporary high which can be immediately countered by rejection from the university of your dreams due to missing out on that one grade needed to get in. Depression is the most obvious downer, people finding it hard to cope or to continue living when their very being denies themselves from the few positives that occur around them.

Luck is another thing in one life. It varies from person to person; some may receive good luck most of the time, but again this will only result in smaller gains than if you get that rare stroke which enables you to reach a higher platform. Bad luck follows the same rules, only with the opposite effect of worsening your life.

I was blessed with one of the greatest strokes in luck in my life, and though I never could really say that I received other big moments of luck, apart from one more perhaps, I wouldn't change it for the world.

I met Haruhi Suzumiya.

Well, more to the point, she responded to me.

Meeting someone implies that you speak to and engage a person in conversation for a while. I never had that luxury with Haruhi back in the day. Just like with all the other students, she rudely shook off my attempts, and I didn't bother her again, until I questioned her alternating hairdo.

And then she responded.

From then on, my life transformed from a boring, everyday one, to a new adventurous life filled with unpredictable events.

Though I cursed her for having been a part of the SOS Brigade, due to my wish to not become a pawn of the goddess, I later learned to accept what I was part of, as proven when she made a new world for just the two of us, and that time in God's Space.

Then I was blessed with the relationship that then burgeoned with my wife, Yuki.

But eventually all things have to come to an end, and I'm reaching my own.

"Hey Haruhi..." I was wheezing by now, it was difficult to breathe at this stage, "Been a while huh?"

The figure of the former leader of the SOS Brigade Party came into view from my periphery field of vision; the glasses I wore weren't good enough to be able to focus on her face properly.

"So, Kyon..." She grinned, "How're you feeling?"

I chuckled, as that was the same thing I said to her back when she was in the hospital all those years ago. I took this moment to take one final look at her.

Haruhi was probably the most famous person in the world at this stage, her legion of bodyguards were patrolling the hospital for any possible attackers, though none ever came. She had remained Prime Minister for a full thirty four years, the longest ever, and she always had a huge majority in her favour.

However, as always, she decided to leave the job as, in her own words at her leaving speech, it became 'boring and predictable to govern the country'. She left despite everyone's concerns about the stability of Japan after her leaving; even Sasaki chose to quit the same time as her, saying she wouldn't work with another leader.

Yet, the party remained in everyone's favour, because of her excellent deduction skills at picking reliable and trustworthy ministers and politicians, they continued to rule with a kind new leader, another woman whose name I keep forgetting, and to this day, twenty years after Haruhi quit, they're still in power.

The white haired woman in front of me became an ambassador of peace in her spare time, meeting with religious figures, charities and other non-government organisations to promote a safer world. Though she didn't eradicate war completely, since there was still fighting everywhere, she managed to get truces with certain groups that had been fighting for so long. Her efforts are known everywhere, even down to the multi-platinum song she and Sasaki duetted in to earn money to give to those charities.

The crow's feet at the edge of her eyes didn't mar her otherwise smooth face, in fact it made her seem sharper than ever with her eyes able to take in any small detail, and she was still as active as she ever was. I personally believed she could go on like for another fifty years or so.

She wore a ponytail today.

"Not too bad, though dying does kind of suck a bit."

Her grin fell a millimetre as she sat next to me, "Well, you know how it is, men have shorter lives than women. it's not something that can be changed."

"I guess you're right..." I coughed again and sat up with difficulty, "How's the new campaign?"

"Oh, forget about business for now," She waved it off, "It's just us, okay? Like all those reunions every year."

"Except for this one, when I got ill..."

She didn't say anything more, and held my hand. Her grip was strong but soft at the same time, "Kyon, I don't know what to say..." She had tears in her eyes, "I could say 'be strong', but that doesn't seem right..."

I smiled back at her, happy to see her a little stumped for once, "Just say what comes to you naturally, Haruhi."

She nodded one, swallowed quietly and spoke, "Kyon, I'm going to miss you... You were always there with me, not always for me exactly, but you stuck through with all my crazy ideas and plans. I never really told you this, Kyon, but I loved you, for a very long time..."

"I knew, Haruhi, I always did, but my heart belonged to someone else." I closed my eyes for a moment, the strain getting to me for a second.

"I know... Yuki..." She paused as she smiled warmly, "I've never seen you as happy as when you were with her. That's all I really wanted for you, Kyon, to be happy."

"Without you Haruhi, I'd've never met Yuki, so all I can say is thanks."

She grinned back, "Vice-versa for my own spouse." Her hands returned to her hips, before she looked to the door, "The others will probably want to come in..." She took a look at my face, before kissing me sweetly on the lips, not one of passion like we shared when reality ceased, but one of her love for me.

"Till we meet again, Nagaru..."

She spoke my real name, before leaving my sight forever, the door opened again and in walked two people, a man and a woman, the man using a cane to walk, but was otherwise unaided.

"Hey Koizumi, Kyouko..."

Their identical smiles were charming to me now, Koizumi's had lost the hidden agenda he held when we were all at school together, so it was genuine. Kyouko's smile was always real, which helped me to adjust to her being at our school together after all that happened.

"My, Kyon, you're looking a little bit under the weather."

Koizumi grinned and opened his wrinkly eyes. He aged fairly normally, and possessed a lot more wrinkles than his wife. They retired a while ago and lived off their savings from their company, having a happy life as pensioners.

"Yeah, you're right, maybe I need tips from you on how to stay fit..."

Koizumi raised his eyebrow before understanding, "Ah this, I don't really need it..." He twirled his cane in his hands, "It's for show."

"Naturally..." I moved about in my bed, feeling bed cramps hitting me hard, "Still, you look pretty good, and you especially Kyouko."

"Thank you, I do take care of my appearance." She did look special, perhaps espers had some natural immunity to the effects of ageing, other than wrinkles, they did both move as if they were still teenagers.

"How's the family?"

"They're doing fine." Kyouko replied for me, "Grandchildren are doing well, one's pregnant too."

"That's great news, mine are the same..."

Their smiles lowered a bit, "If we could help, we could find some some of medicine, but I would have thought..."

Koizumi trailed off, but I knew what he meant, I had to let him know the truth.

"It's okay, I told Yuki not to make me live forever, but if my time really was coming up, I told her to stop protecting me from diseases and things like that."

They understood immediately, nodding at the same time.

"Anyway, Koizumi, you'd better have a good life with Kyouko, or else I'll come back and haunt you!"

I laughed as he chuckled, both of us agreeing that it could happen.

They both left with a real smile on their faces, thanks to my last minute joke.

The next two people came in, and my heart thumped a little harder than it should have.

Asahina and Tsuruya were inseparable after they got together, and were living happy lives off the family fortune, inside that huge mansion. The former never went back to her home time after a while, so I assumed she chose to stay with us.

"Kyon-kun..."

Asahina still used that suffix even at this age, when I stopped using hers once we reached retirement age. She still looked attractive with her pale pink hair, though she was like me, a lot weaker than normal, but the stronger Tsuruya remained by her side to support her. The latter's hair was long as ever, just pure snow white, though not as brittle as other women her age. Her being from a different reality, she also aged slowly.

"Aha, Kyon is lookings good, huh?"

"Yeah, I feel better after seeing you two..." The truth is good occasionally, "How are you both?"

"Umm, quite well actually..." Asahina blushed as Tsuruya kissed her on the back of the head.

"Still going strong, eh?" I winked at Tsuruya, who had a devilish grin in return.

"Oh yeahs, nothing has changed..." She nuzzled on Asahina's ear, making her squeak, and me to crack up with laughter, as much as my rasps of breath would allow.

"And the others?"

"They're doing fine, the grandkids are having fun in the mansion." Tsuruya responded.

"Yauemon might want to retire soon, he's talking about It seriously for once." Asahina added.

"Hmm... I can imagine..."

They are of course talking about their two children, Yauemon and Michuru, both around fifty by now.

How? Medical technology, along with a helping hand from Yuki allowed them to conceive using their original DNA combined with one another. Tsuruya was the first to give birth to her son, named after her ancestor who 'found' the Timer, followed by Asahina four years later.

The son was very intelligent, but suffered from fainting fits, resulting in a very successful career brought down by his illness, which was presumably something that not even Yuki could help with. She said that it was one of Asahina's characteristics that enabled this in him, so changing that wouldn't make him her son any more.

Their second child, Michuru, was very active, with Asahina's hair colour, but a little obtuse to the basic facts of life, despite being as clever as her brother, if not more.

Both found a lot of prejudice because of their parents, but they learned to recognise how special they were, though I feel that Yauemon still resents some people for that. They found partners in the end and both are happy.

"Still, at least your family is doing good."

Tsuruya grinned and Asahina sniffed, holding my hand, "Kyon-kun... Are you sure about this, Nagato-san can..."

Shakily, I put my other hand on top of hers and shook my head, "No, it has to be this way, it has to be natural, otherwise I won't be who I am, a mere human..."

She held me for a few moments longer before sobbing loudly and hugging my arm. Tsuruya sighed and cuddled her from behind, "Gees Kyon, even now you're makings her cry! How can I stop you from doings this?" She wasn't angry, in fact she was still laughing at some inside joke known only to herself.

"No... I can't go..." Asahina was holding my hand tighter as Tsuruya pulled at her, "I can't leave..."

"Mikuru... Come on, you can see him later, eh? Besides, you know who's next, eh?"

Asahina's cries were fairly tormenting, but a brief wink and salute from Tsuruya told me everything, she would take care of her and she was wishing me luck.

The next person came in, and my heart sped up.

"Yuki..."

"Yes. I'm here now, Kyon."

My wife stood there, unchanged for the seventy years I knew her. Her hair was still at that slightly longer length than before when I went on my writing trip, and her natural grey hair was tastefully littered with a few white hairs, all generated by her to make me feel a bit better when my own hair turned.

Wrinkle free, she was the definition of age defying.

"How long have I got?"

"Five minutes, twenty one seconds and counting before terminal heart and pulmonary functions cease responding to repeated efforts of nerve impulse and blood circulation."

Her face was calm, at peace, and there were no tears.

"Yuki..." I looked at her face, knowing that I needed to remember her emotions the way they are now, "Is everyone okay?"

"Yes, Haruki and Ameko are remaining outside, comforting their children and grandchildren. They are happy to have been able to get home in time to say goodbye to you."

Yes, I was glad too...

I looked briefly around the room to see every surface covered with flowers. Asakura popped in briefly, armed with hundreds of drawing pins, and threw them at me. Knowing that I was safe from her, I was confused, we had made up decades ago. However I was stunned when every known species of flower came into being around me, filling the room to the brim.

"Thanks for everything, Kyon..."

Those were her only words to me as she left, still as stunning as when she became a model. She wasn't as youthful as Yuki, but her looks remained.

Gees, I seemed to be around people who refused to age with dignity, all these young looking faces... And I'm the only one who's going to die first too...

"Yuki..."

Damn, I was caught up in melancholy now, of all times...

"Yuki, is there an afterlife? What happens when we die?"

I asked before, now I asked again.

Her face tightened slightly, "Classified Information." The same answer I got as last time; I was about to sigh and nod, before she added on something, "However, soon you will be granted access to that data."

This was new.

"When I die, right?"

"Correct."

I sighed for real this time, and thought back again.

My sister came to see me. She never married, which was a little sad, but she was happy without any men in her life; she came when Yuki called, and is still here, waiting for that moment.

"Kyon." Yuki spoke up, "I will go ahead as planned when you die."

"No..." I wasn't having this, and I sat up, forcing my body to react, "I told you, there's no need."

"You must stop that... You are further reducing your time limit." Her eyes were blinking, and tears were filling up.

"I don't care, Yuki..." I breathing harder now, "You're not tied to me like that, you can't -"

"Stop!" Her only shout in her life came now, and she was holding my body up as my body became wracked with pain, "Kyon... Nagaru... Please listen..."

I had no choice, I could barely fight back with words, let alone physical strength; her scared shout caught me completely by surprise.

"When your life ends, so shall mine." She spoke calmly, in her neutral voice, "While I am able to function until the end of time, I find little reason to continue existing without you in my life..." She trailed off but went on, "I can regenerate you, prolong your life as you are now, even convert you into a Human Interface Terminal, however you rejected all those options; in order to remain human to the last moment." She pulled me into a hug, kissing me on my chest and neck, "I love you, Nagaru. I can easily remove all feelings I had towards you to become how I was, but then I would not be complete without you, hence my reasoning to end my life cycles with your own."

I began to shake, not because I was scared, or emotional, but because my life had finally reached the end of its winding course.

"Don't be afraid, Nagaru, I'll be with you..."

I whispered something to Yuki, but I couldn't remember what it was, and she repeated something similar to me, giving me one last kiss as the room filled with yellow light.

For the second time in my life, I died of my own free will.

**One second later**

I woke up, finding myself in a black void, one that felt oddly familiar...

"I've been here before..."

My voice was the same, my body aching as much as it was just prior to my death, my breathing ragged and tired. When I spoke, it felt as if the air around sucked it out, preventing any echoes or indication of how big the space was.

"No..."

I was here, before Haruhi created God's Space...

Is this what death was? Was Yuki trying to protect me by offering me a longer life? Is this why it was classified to humans? Who would want to die, knowing that this was all that awaited them?

This endless darkness...

I tried to run but my already ancient bones weren't willing to go any further than a few steps before collapsing from overexertion. Panting, I knelt on the strangely hard ground. My body wearing the same hospital pyjamas as before, I could see myself perfectly, yet the blackness would not be lit by anything.

"Please... Help me..."

Yuki...

She condemned herself to this, because of my stupid whim of dying normally...

"No... Please..."

I laid down, too tired to even kneel now, lying on my front, feeling my sleepiness overtake me.

There was no heaven, nor a hell, just this purgatory of the feeling of your last moments before dying, of eternal weakness and of mortality.

"I'm sorry, Yuki..."

"What are you sorry for?"

My eyelids fluttered open to see a blurry pair of shoes, indoor plimsolls I'd say, connected to a thin pair of legs.

"Kyon, it's time to get up..."

The legs bent forwards, and the person knelt down, holding a hand near my face.

"Okay..."

I trusted that voice to the end, and reached out with my own to accept the pale hand, only to be pulled up into a world of light.

The surroundings were now a beautiful field of flowers, a natural meadow with rolling hills and trees; nature at its best...

I spun round, taking in the view, only to take in the view of the person who brought me here.

"Yuki..."

"Hello Kyon..."

Her smile was radiant.

She wore her North High uniform, and looked just like she was back in that school. I looked down and saw that I too wore my old uniform, and that my body was back to its youthful self.

"Where am I...?" I looked about again, but keeping my eyes on Yuki at the same time, in case I lost her for good.

"Wherever you wanted to be..." Was her response.

"I don't think any place like this exists on Earth."

"According to my knowledge, no, it does not."

"Then how am I here?"

"You believed this to be your model of Heaven, was it not?"

I stood there, she was right.

"Yes... Yes, I did..."

I felt the flowers, and they swayed into my hands, as if they liked to be caressed.

"But, does that mean... Are you just a figment of my imagination?"

"What do you believe?" The smile was still on her face.

"I don't know, I don't want to think that you're just an idea of the image of Yuki that I grew to love and cherish."

"Well, allow me to prove it to you, who I am..."

And she returned, she ascended into her Entity Level, looking more like an angel than ever, given the circumstances.

"Yuki... It's really you..." My tears returned with a vengeance, and I cried for her, "You're here, with me..."

"Yes, Kyon." She hugged me and kissed me passionately, before pulling back, "You've attained the highest security level, now I can reveal to you where you are."

I waited, perhaps literally, my whole life to hear the answer.

"You are in God's Space."

I froze, and realised that she was correct, whatever I wished for came true, though I had yet to exercise my right over everything I wanted just as yet.

"What do you mean, Yuki?"

"As I too passed into this state, I have this knowledge because I wished to know the truth, so now I will repeat it for your sake."

She paused for a moment, still with that beautiful smile of hers.

"You and Haruhi spent a short amount of time in her own God's Space, one she managed to reach early because of her status. However, she was able to manipulate that Space even if she wasn't in it or aware of it, subtly changing the world around her in the ways you saw back then."

"So... Haruhi was using her version of God's Space unconsciously to invent espers and so on?"

"Indeed. This corresponds to the data explosions we detected from her. Yet, there is one important factor remaining." Yuki stepped back, "Every living thing possesses their own version of God's Space; nevertheless, they are only able to use it when they die. The rare exceptions to the rule are the geniuses that change the world for better or worse, and even then, they only tapped into that power one time to receive that big change in their lives. Haruhi used her own almost constantly, which is why she was so special, and yet as I was living all this time, even I could not know the truth until I too died."

"But if this is my God's Space, why are you here?" I had to ask.

"Because, if a person wishes a person to be there, they will. If that person also wants to be with the person who made the wish, then they can be together."

Yuki pulled me into a hug.

"As there is nothing else I wish for, other than to be with you, it was easy to choose to enter here. A world made just for the two of us, forever."

She kissed me deeply, and I in turn helped with the kiss.

"Every person is the God of their own life, but forever unable to use that knowledge to further themselves while they live. Therefore at the end of that life, they reach their own land, a place to truly live. There, their every desire can come true, and they can become who they wanted to be, if they never had the chance, or to see what would happen if they did things differently. There is literally no limit to this Space..."

"So, we are all special in a way..."

"Yes, everyone is special." Yuki smiled again, "Regarding your original question about the afterlife..."

I held my breath.

"There is none. No 'after', just, plain and simply, life, eternal."

I laughed, cried, sighed, and every other emotion I could feel came to me at once, but mostly, I knew...

She was right...

"Yuki, why are you smiling so much?"

She kissed me, quietening me for the moment, "I have all the time in the world to show you my emotions, from now on. Why not start now?"

I accepted that as it was.

Immortality in a world of my choosing, with the woman I loved besides me.

There was nothing more I wanted from life.

I was happy.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

And so, Kyon dies, for the second time. Nagato too...

The story of their life together has ended here, since describing events in heaven would be beyond your capability to understand, as the living cannot imagine what the dead can experience at any moment, so this is the official end of the plot a a whole.

However, don't be sad, you'll see the burgeoning of their relationship, the birth of their child, and revealing all to Haruhi...

But, all for another time!

- J


	3. File Not Found

**Life After the Death of Haruhi Suzumiya**

**Chapter 3  
File Not Found**

**One month after the funeral**

The streets were busy, as it usually was on a Saturday.

I had just finished the cram school and walked through the crowds back to my shared home.

"Ridiculous. What is the purpose of human life? I now need to eat, and the automated breathing actually helps us to live! No thanks to her…"

I saw my reflection staring back at me from a shop window. I had the face of a devil, scrunched up and teeth bared. I scared away the people who walked in front of me. I tried to return it to normal.

"What am I supposed to do now? Just be a normal schoolgirl? I've had the ability to change anything around me, and now I've lost that…"

I mumbled to myself and vaguely heard that certain people matched my footsteps and speed. Just the rush hour home.

"And Kyon… I can't do anything. No knives, strangles, even punches don't work…" I sighed out loud, "Nagato-san must really want me to suffer."

The ground was dirty. There was a subtle change in the environment which made me look up.

"Hang on, why did I walk into the side street?"

Taking a moment to gather myself, I noted that the area was completely silent, and the breeze from earlier was now still. The sun's heat was bearing down on me.

That and I was surrounded by twenty people, men and women of varying ages staring blankly at me.

"Oh? And who might you be?" I felt for my bag and found the knife I kept with me, for emergencies you understand, and held it tight inside the protective cover of the bag.

"You are Asakura Ryouko." One of them began, before the next person in line spoke, "Formerly of the Data Integrated Thought Entity." The next woman continued, "Formerly of the Macrospatial Quantum Cosmic Existence." A young boy followed, "Currently Human."

I narrowed my eyes, "What are you, members of my fan club or something?"

"No."

The sequence of one sentence ending, only for the person to the right of the speaker to start the next one continued.

I always spun around to keep an eye on the one speaking at all times.

"You are of interest to us. We would like you to join us. A person being a part of the Entity and an ally to their group would be crucial."

"What's in it for me?" My grip on the knife tightened.

"Naturally, you would receive power. Not unlike the data manipulation. There is only one simple exception."

Not taking the bait to ask what it was, I was intrigued regardless.

"How did you manage to lure me here for this talk?"

"Humans are fickle creatures. Their minds are sheep. We synchronised our steps with your own. Once there was resonance, it was simple to control your movements."

I thinned my smile, a unique feeling of the lips pressing against one another harder.

This did not sound good.

I'm no longer a Terminal or of the Sky Canopy, but I still possess some of that knowledge, that's why my grades remain excellent.

It should not be that easy to fool someone of my level of intelligence.

"You need my memories, a spy maybe? What do you want from them? You want to kill them?"

"Nothing so mundane. The mere clinical act of killing them."

I relaxed my smile. I will look forward to being a part of torturing my little sister. I didn't even understand that the next person was speaking, until it registered in my head.

"We will delete their existences from this universe. Completely and utterly."

I stopped.

The beads of sweat growing on my brow were a new experience. My forehead was really damp now.

"Why?"

This time there was a pause in their response, the first since our exchange.

"We have no reason."

My face was now cold, not due to a breeze, since the air was unnaturally still.

After a quick check mentally, I realised that the blood from my cheeks had rushed away, taking with it the warmth. My heart rate had also slowed remarkably.

I felt more beads of sweat get produced on my brow and arms.

Suddenly, my body grew agitated. Breathing was now manually activated, and I was sucking in air faster than before as my heart rate accelerated. Adrenaline flooded my arteries, making me react the way I should.

Pulling out the dagger and taking a defensive stance, I readied myself.

They were dangerous.

"If that's the case, then I need to just kill you here and now."

I ran to the last woman who spoke. My reflexes aren't what they used to be, given Nagato-san's restrictions on my body, but I was still fast by human standards.

Despite this, she opened her mouth, and I saw the ones around her did the same thing, probably the one's behind me.

Before I could dodge, the created a cage around me, made from a burning red laser. I knew that touching it would be useless, especially with the knife.

I snarled at them. I haven't been locked up like this, ever. Even Nagato-san didn't treat me this way.

I knew they weren't human from the beginning. My Terminal senses don't exist any more, but I could tell from their manner of movements. No extraneous bodily twitches, just perfectly statuesque. Looking closer, they didn't even have the fake breathing.

"Who the hell are you?"

The cage changed shape to match my body shape, and slowly it began to contract.

I knew then that it was simply going to restrain me in a lot of hurt.

Just before it touched my skin, they all responded as one.

"We are the Null."

Once the searing began, my pain receptors went into overdrive, driving my writhing body insane with agony.

I screamed.

I screamed so hard that my lungs ached and begged for me to stop, I felt that were I to continue this course I would expel them from my body, even though I knew it was biologically impossible.

Ah, I'm still yelling, but I can barely hear it now as my voice was now hoarse. How long was I crying out for? Thirty minutes? Ten? Or was it simply twenty seconds? My impeccable memory was distorted by the fact of my body diverting all its attention to protecting itself, even if it meant sacrificing some aspects of my new humanity.

Why was no one coming?

Oh God, I can smell my skin burning…

I have to do something…

I fell to the ground, the burning cage acting like a grotesque string vest, following me down.

The pain was fading, as was my consciousness. My impression was that this is how they take people away, by making them hurt so much that the humans choose to simply black out.

I stuck my dagger in the ground, grabbed the bare blade with my hand and squeezed.

I looked at the last person to speak to me. Well, tried to at least. I had to close one eye was as it was being fried by part of the laser field.

"When all this is over, I'll kill you myself."

My body must have reached its limits…

I blacked out.

**Ten seconds later**

12:25:35 AR Monitors stable. No abnormalities detected.  
12:25:36 AR Monitors stable. No abnormalities detected.  
12:25:37 AR Monitors stable. No abnormalities detected.  
12:25:38 AR Monitors stable. No abnormalities detected.  
12:25:39 AR Monitors stable. No abnormalities detected.  
12:25:40 AR Monitors INACTIVE. Priority 1 Alert.

Initiate Entity Protocol - Sigma Ampersand Delta.  
Target – AR  
Materialisation to Last Known Location  
3  
2  
1

Target Lost.  
AR Bag and Bowie Fixed Blade located.  
Blood smear - DNA analysis confirmation of AR presence.  
Indications of excessive heat and burn marks.

Priority 2 Alert  
Initiate Entity Protocol – Sigma Oscar Sigma  
Contact the Four  
Messaged E1 Ally  
Messaged S1 Ally  
Messaged T1 Ally  
Calling Unknown Factor

**That moment**

I had Saturday off. Somehow my studies had improved enough that I wouldn't need to take cram classes immediately.

Or perhaps I didn't have enough motivation to get myself placed in a classy university, so my teachers didn't want to pressure me that much.

Not like Haruhi, Koizumi and the others of course. They were encouraged to take extra classes.

I can't even imagine what Yuki's teacher said. She barely tells me anything about her lessons, not that she'd have any problems with any question ever.

Strange, my phone was ringing, and that specific ringtone only meant one person.

"Hi Yuki. What's up?"

"I need you here. Initiating Matter to RJ-45 converter."

Uh oh… Her voice sounded less like human or her SQL hyper speech, and more like a classic modem.

Then I felt my body appear in her flat.

"Okay, what's wrong, Yuki?"

I could no longer be surprised with her any more, so I just asked her normally. I think she's rubbing off on me, since her lack of reaction to my lack of reaction erased all unnecessary explanations and side-tracking.

It took me another second to see that Tsuruya-san, Koizumi and Asahina-san were here too.

Yuki stood up and spoke again, this time to all of us.

"Monitoring data entities around Asakura Ryouko went silent 32 seconds ago. Her presence is nowhere to be found. The area where she was last registered is isolated. We will transport there now."

Her green and yellow wings unfurled and her eyes changed again. Entity Yuki bathed us in light and we all materialised in an alleyway.

Again, I was calm throughout. No flustered movements from myself nor any gasps of surprise.

Yuki must really be changing me as a person.

"Asakura went missing here?"

I looked around and didn't see anything particularly odd about the area. Koizumi knelt down.

"Her bag and dagger." He looked at it closer, "There's blood on it."

Yuki picked it up and held it by the handle.

"I have analysed it and have confirmed it to be her own blood."

Asahina-san shivered, to which Tsuruya-san handed her a cardigan she was wearing.

"So, Ryouko-san left her bloods there for a reason, no?"

I looked at the blade and frowned.

"There's no pattern on it or words… What could she mean?"

"Unknown." Entity Yuki was glowing further, undoubtedly refracting the light around us so no bystanders would spot what we were up to. "Analysing further."

We watched as she conducted a series of spells, her wings unfurling out and covering the dagger, now hovering in mid-air.

I felt a tug on my top from behind and glanced back to see Asahina-san looking at me with a red face.

"Umm, sorry to bother you Kyon-kun."

It's no bother, we're in the middle of something none of us can help out with anyway.

She smiled back behind her hand, "I just wanted to ask, how are things going between you and Nagato-san?"

Oh, such a simple question? Does it even have one answer?

"We're doing okay. It's only little things, holding hands, sitting close to each other when watching TV, the odd hug now and then." I coughed to cover my embarrassment, "I don't know how fast I should go, maybe I'll scare her off..."

Asahina-san giggled, "Well, I'm sure you're doing fine. Nagato-san is probably learning her own limits too. I doubt you could do anything to frighten her." She folder her hands behind her back, "Perhaps she is also scared of moving forwards too. You've always known her to take things at her own pace."

Maybe you're right, I never thought of it that way...

"By the way, your injuries..."

It was taboo, we should never talk about that time, when all of existence was lost. This is the first time I've ever brought it up with her since Haruhi's resurrection at her own funeral.

However, it becomes near impossible when there is the daily reminder of Asahina-san moving about in pain.

For some incomprehensible reason, her future guardians and colleagues could not heal those wounds she received escaping from those monsters in that Time War. Though Koizumi's descendants helped the elder version escape, they also tried to help her younger self, though not without cost from what little we gathered.

The only aspect which made sense was that Asahina-san (Big) now had these scars on her arms and legs, therefore I could only presume that her current image was predetermined.

Our Asahina-san had to suffer this pain to become who she would be. Daily spasms, endless itching, sporadic bleeding, greater anaemia resulting in more fainting; that cursed technology from that time was made to hurt people, killing them too early was not their goal until the latter days of the war.

She needs to go through all this to one day be the head of the Time Traveller syndicate, though she would never know until that role was thrust upon her.

I knew she would clam up immediately when I mentioned that time, but this time Tsuruya-san jumped in, quite literally, to answer for her.

"Oh, don't worrys about that Kyon-kun!" She slapped her hand on my shoulder several times rapidly, "I have some medicine at home from my family treasures, with a little helps from this." Her hand pulled out that mysterious sliding cylinder timer, "I apply it to her every days now. She doesn't hurts so much when she walks."

Asahina-san blushed even harder and backed away, "Ts-Tsuruya-san!" She looked at me in fear, "I-It's not like that Kyon-kun!"

I raised my eyebrow and even let my jaw droop a little. What was she talking about?

Tsuruya-san stared hard at Asahina-san, "You do have a nice figure though, I can see why Haruhi-san likes you so much!" Running up to her, she gave her a squeezing hug, much to the latter's reluctance and need to escape.

Ignoring the pair, I turned back to Yuki as her glowing ceased.

"I have delved deeper into the DNA sequence and have noted irregularities with her genetic make-up." Yuki returned to her normal self and held the dagger in her outstretched hand. "Asakura Ryouko was transported from this location using non-terrestrial means."

Koizumi was the only one listening intently, "So, she was teleported away? Like your method?"

"The means of transportation were much more prolonged." Yuki flicked her eyes to me before looking back at Koizumi, "My primary means include converting matter to other forms, namely electronic signals to be downloaded via the telecommunications and cellular network to a single location, then converting back into matter. Total time for transfer is at most five hundred milliseconds. Emergency situations call for Upper Level Clearance, full physical translocation of all individuals within a certain radius of SQL fields and tables."

"Wait a second..." I had to get my head around this, "When you teleport us, it's more or less instant. So you're saying Asakura was teleported away... slowly...?"

"Yes." Her eyes glanced at the knife, "The blood on her blade was her own by a self-inflicted wound. The fresher blood has serious signs of degradation in the form of molecular cohesion and electron removal. Some bodily fluid was at an atomic level."

Tsuruya-san heard something intriguing and piped up, "Are you saying her body was separateds at a molecular level? That's unheard of..."

"Correct."

Asahina-san must have thought of something strange, as she too spoke, "D-Does that mean... Was Ryouko-san conscious when all this happened?"

"Unknown, but all pain receptors must have registered the body being torn apart atom by atom, and continued even when she was a cloud of atoms."

Disgusting.

Truly horrific.

The pain she must have felt.

Each atom ripped away from her forcefully, one-by-one, only to be merged again at another end.

Or so we hope...

"Is... Is it possible she was killed? Yuki, how could you tell this was a procedure to transport someone instead of simply making them vanish into thin air?"

I was asking for some hope. I knew Yuki had trouble with providing it, she generally reported the facts only.

"I am one hundred percent certain she was taken somewhere."

I let out a breath I had been holding as she continued.

"Were she simply killed, her atoms would still be in this area, spread out over a wide region as an invisible gas. Yet, there is no sign of a single atom of her being, aside from her life fluid on the knife."

Koizumi nodded, "It makes sense, even if she had left this area as a gas, Nagato-san should still be able to detect her somehow."

"Th-Then, why can't you find her if she has merged again?" Asahina-san asked a pertinent question.

"Unknown." Yuki blinked, never a good sign, "I cannot detect her presence on this entire planet. The only sign she ever existed is on her knife." She paused for a second, "I can only assume that either she has been taken away from Earth, or she is still here, but other forces are preventing me from detecting her."

"Even in your Entity form?" I asked.

Yuki nodded.

We all stood there, finally gauging the enormity of what had transpired.

Someone, or something, was more powerful that the Data Integrated Thought Entity, and whoever it was, they took our former enemy, by force.

"She had her knife out... She must have been ambushed." Koizumi broke the silence.

"The enemy came to her directly..." Tsuruya-san nodded, "They wanted her for some reason."

Obviously, she used to be our enemy, nearly killing me a few times. They probably wanted her knowledge.

"But to what end?" I asked, "If they forced her to join them, what is their goal?"

I looked to the others and they were all quiet.

Koizumi removed his mobile from his pocket, "I will need to advise the Organisation, and the Family. Others may be in danger."

"I need to report this too, maybe there is some information I can give out about this series of events." Asahina-san was nervous and jittery, wanting to return to her time as soon as possible.

Tsuruya-san clutched onto her arm firmly, coaxing her to calm down, "I'll check my records of anything similar. I'll pop into some advanced worlds too for more intel. Maybe someone has heard of this group, or that teleport methods."

"If you wish, I can teleport you back to your previous locations." Yuki declared.

The three nodded, and seconds later they vanished, having been sent home.

I turned back to the one I confessed my feelings to, "Yuki, can you detect anything different? What are your plans?"

She was fully focused on me now, her eyes boring into my own, "There are No signs of an enemy, they are Nowhere to be found." She paused and her eyes looked down a millimetre or two, "There is Nothing I can do."

I was powerless to help. A mere, unaltered human, surrounded by fantastic beings and people with abilities far beyond my own.

The only thing I could do for Yuki was to walk up to her and hug her, pulling her in close.

"It's okay, Yuki." I stroked her hair and released her from the hug, in case she was getting too claustrophobic or embarrassed, or uncomfortable. "You did what you could, it's not your fault Asakura was captured."

She was still looking down, "I did not foresee this possibility. The monitors were simply for tracking her whereabouts and to ensure the safety of anyone around her should she decide to impulsively kill."

I shook my head, "It's still not your fault. She took out her dagger, didn't she? She must have been ready to attack someone who was after her. Wouldn't the program have activated it to change it into another flower again?"

Yuki was quiet, but nodded in reply.

"We'll figure out what to do, don't worry." I smiled at Yuki, since she chose to angle her head upwards again.

The minute frown on her brow was replaced with her neutral visage, a welcome sign for me.

"I will do what I can to locate her." Yuki said, "It seems we need to wait for now."

I agreed. If Asakura was taken from us like this and we had no way of knowing what they wanted, then the ball was in their court.

I can only hope that when Asakura woke up that she would give them hell.

I watched Yuki as she stood there, completely stationary.

"Shall we go home?"

She shook her head and come towards me, and then holding my hand slowly, "Can I visit the library first?" Her head lowered quite a bit, and I couldn't see her eyes beneath her fringe, "It would be nice if you could join me."

I sighed.

It's been one month since I told her how feel in a wild act of freedom. Having been through oblivion and returning more or less unscathed, I couldn't live my life with regrets any more.

Somehow, our relationship continued, a new couple, fill with all these uncertainties. Me, a simple human, her, a near goddess ability to change matter. To her, I must seem to be a microbe, a minuscule speck of life to her immense strength and power.

But, she agreed to be with me.

I'll never fully understand her thoughts, yet somehow I think she feels the same way about me. Yuki was always observing Haruhi. She was never granted the necessary social skills to perform like Asakura, to speak in a comprehensible language, to show bodily twitches and minor movements. Now with the Entity inside her, she has barely changed, and to be honest, I'm happy with that.

If she started acting as friendly and open as Asakura, it would scare me.

This is why I get surprised when she makes requests of me like this. I don't want to pressure her, it is her own choice to do what she wants, I'm happy with the speed of the relationship, rushing never works out well for both parties.

Asahina-san was right, Yuki could be nervous of how to act. With all the world's knowledge inside her, she wants to remain herself, undistorted by outside factors. She's only doing things the way she knows how.

I held her hand a little stronger.

"Sure, let's go. Have you got your library card?"

She nodded as we began to walk out of the alley into the street.

I felt her hand tighten for a second, making me glance at her questioningly.

"Thank you, Kyon."

And on her face was a tiny, but nevertheless pretty smile.

**Meanwhile  
Unknown Location**

"GYAAA~ KIIIIHH!"

I saw my arm appear in front of me, floating towards my right eye, which was impossible since either of them weren't attached to anything.

"AAAGHH~ HUUURK!"

My hand separated from the wrist, then my fingers were removed from the knuckles, then at each bone joint.

"KYAAHAHaa... Ha... WahahahaHaHaHaHAHAHAHAHAA~!"

Who am I kidding? This is my voice screaming to myself. My laugh echoed through the large chamber. So nondescript was the generic nature of it that it defied my now contradictory and convoluted senses.

My left eye was focused on my navel as my skin was peeled away, and my intestines were unravelled weaving through other body parts.

My nose... They kept my hands away from it to block it off... Though it was detached, I could smell everything, my organs, tears, excreta, bile, and a copious amount of my blood.

The legs were kicking each other, smashing the bones which were not removed by other means.

It's better not to speak about what was happening to the areas around my pelvis and my chest, though my eyes were always drawn to those parts. The amount of gore, the indecency, I was subjected to every sort of ignominy possible in this age.

My mouth when not screaming was swallowing constantly, the cloud of blood making it harder to breathe.

Yes, this was how they created drones.

By making their victims experience undeath, their everliving bodies were controlled by outside forces to tear themselves apart, and the humiliation of watching, tasting, smelling, hearing and feeling every microsecond of this agony.

I grinned again, my teeth tasted coppery to my tongue, as I tried to get control of my disembodied eyeballs to view the scattered parts of my body.

Vomiting only added to the red mist, but I could not resist any more.

I finally saw my ruined face, the eye sockets bare, nose and mouth missing. My ears were still there as was my scalp, but my beautiful hair was red now...

The only thing beneath my head was a part of my neck, and my spine extending beneath that.

I have my eyes, and I cannot unsee.  
I have my nose, and I cannot unsmell.  
I have my skin, and I cannot unfeel.  
I have my ears, and I cannot unhear.  
I have my mouth, and I cannot untaste.

Therefore, I have to become UnLife.

I Must Become Nothing.

But notwithstanding all this, I have my mouth, and I must scream.

But first things first.

I laughed. Once. Twice. Thrice.

Again and again and again and again and again and again.

I begged inside my dissolving mind for the pain to stop.

It never did.

**Author's Notes**

Hmm, last update was 16th June 2008, so, 4 years between updates isn't so bad now, is it?

Had inspiration for this chapter recently. As per usual, no promises on the next chapter. Maybe another 4 years time?

Have a good summer everyone!

J


End file.
